Eyes across the Bayou State continue to monitor the impact of Gordon. The storm made landfall last night along the Alabama Mississippi border. The storm’s track is expected to bring it over Hattiesburg and Jacksonville. It will then slightly touch the North East corner of Louisiana before heading to points north. Though we’ll likely see a showers here in Cenla, the threats will be minimal. National Weather Service Meteorologist Eric Carpenter says the storm should slow down or stall over the northern part of the state. That could bring much larger amounts of rain and possible flooding to those areas.

LSU is relaxing a generation-old policy of automatically rejecting applicants who score too low on the standardized entrance exams like the ACT. Instead, the state’s flagship university will be placing more emphasis on recommendation letters, personal essays and activities outside academia. LSU is joining a national “holistic admissions” wave that diminishes the importance of tests like the ACT and SAT. A group headed by a member of the Board of Regents blasted LSU President F. King Alexander on Tuesday. Most board members say they heard of the change in Policy first time in a Baton Rouge Advocate story on Sunday.

Senator John Kennedy had a front row seat to the Judiciary Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Brett Kavanagh that got a bit rowdy between the protesters and Democrats on the committee who excoriated their colleagues for refusing to release what they say are key documents about the judge. Kennedy waded in, saying the judicial selection process wasn’t the place for these kinds of fights.

A contractor accused of ripping off customers across five parishes after the 2016 flood receives a four-year prison sentence and is forced to repay 84-thousand dollars to 11 Livingston Parish victims. 41-year-old Matthew Morris was indicted on 51 counts, but ended up pleading guilty to only one. Authorities say Morris would sign contracts with victims of the 2016 flood, and then either not finish, or never even begin work. After the clients would cease payments, Morris would place leans on their properties.

In a common legal move, Christ the King Parish School and the Archdiocese of New Orleans have removed a lawsuit over the school’s hair policy to the federal courts, where a hearing is set for Sept. 18. The legal maneuver means that U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman will rule on the request for an injunction from the mothers of two sixth-grade girls who say they were booted from class over their hair extensions. The mothers allege that the hair policy was discriminatory because it blocked two African-American girls from class.

As Louisiana’s deal with Bell Helicopter for a Lafayette manufacturing facility was falling apart over the past month, state officials offered up a last-ditch proposal to keep the deal alive. At a meeting on July 25, and in phone conversations in August, Louisiana Economic Development proposed restructuring the agreement, “substantially” reducing the incentives the company would get. The state economic development department is in litigation with Bell and is seeking to claw back at least $16.8 million for Bell’s alleged violation of an agreement for a once-promising economic development project, and for falling well short of its goal of 95 workers.

LSU Health New Orleans is joining an international study that’s showing positive results in the search for alternatives to knee replacement for those who suffer chronic pain. They’re the first US based organization to join the study. Associate Professor Vinod Dasa says the CartiHeal system cores out the arthritic regions of the knee, and then begins the process of regrowth. But it’s early on in the process, so the treatment is not yet approved for the full general public. Patients at LSU Health New Orleans who meet the criteria, and are not receiving knee replacements are eligible for the trail.

Sports..

11th ranked LSU will play the rest of the season without its top pass rusher as Coach Ed Orgeron says K’Lavon Chaisson suffered a knee injury in the win over the Miami Hurricanes. Chaisson plays the “Buck” position in Dave Aranda’s defense. Sophomore Andre Anthony replaced Chaisson after he suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game. Sophomore Ray Thornton, JUCO transfer Travez Moore and freshman Jarell Cherry could also see more time on the field.

After beating South Alabama in Mobile, Louisiana Tech hosts Southern in the home opener this Saturday. Bulldogs Coach Skip Holtz likes playing in state schools.

Junior running back Jaqwis Dancy led the Bulldogs to victory last week as he averaged 10 yards a carry and finished with 144 yards and two touchdowns against South Alabama. Holtz says if Dancy stays healthy, he’ll rush for over 1,000 yards this season ,which is remarkable considering he was diagnosed with cancer in 2016…